January 13th: Belvita Cocoa Chocolate Chip

Kcal 57 Fat 2.1g Fat(sats) 0.6g Carbs 8.2g (per 12.5g biscuit)

Even the ChocolateMission team have been on diets this month!! Yes despite their chocolate rating duties some of the team have been got involved with the annual 'battle-of-the-bulge'. To ensure they could continue to contribute to the site two of our tasting panel took on the task of finding a decent 'lighter chocolate option' for our readers who may also be on a cut-back from their favourite treats this month. Long time readers will be aware we have attempted similar projects for the last few years and there have been so notable disasters - See Slim Fast HERE. Other attempts were a little more successful (Kellogg's Fibre Plus See HERE) but this year it was the turn of Belvita who recently introduced a Cocoa Chocolate Chip variety to their established breakfast biscuit brand.

Given the time of year it's likely you should be able to find these on half price in any of the larger supermarkets. January is an opportune time for brands like Belvita to get their products in consumer hands so at a cost of only £1.24 the team filled their boots with 300.0g boxs containing six packs of four biscuits. Comparing the biscuits to the rest of the Belvita range the promise of the Cocoa Chocolate Chip flavour is certainly a stand out. The other varieties such as 'Milk & Cereal' and 'Honey & Nuts' can be found across many of the other branded alternatives ....yawn! Cocoa Chocolate Chip however felt a lot more exciting and the team felt they had great potential if executed well.

The four biscuit packs were deemed a good size for a snacking occasion and it was commented that they looked pleasant on the eye with their chocolate biscuit dark colouring. Despite the name the guys mostly these at tea breaks when they previously would have reached for something like a Snickers, Mars, Kit Kat, bit of cake etc. Looking at the nutritional values this might not have saved them much in the way of calories but certainly there were benefits to be found in the fat content. All these so called benefits however are totally useless if the taste isn't there but thankfully the team reported back mostly positive feedback. Taste wise they said the core digestive biscuit flavours of wheat, cereals butter, sugar and salt were most prominent but intermittently bursts of sweet chocolatey flavours did pulse through somewhere in almost every mouthful. As a fulfilling snacking option they were said to 'do the trick' but in a somewhat unglamorous manner.

Overall these Belvita Cocoa Chocolate Chip managed to achieve a sound rating on the ChocolateMission rating system which for a 'lighter option' means they have to be perceived as more hit than miss. Given the product construct expecting a chocolate experience of any great significance would be unwise so if you are expecting them to totally satisfy a craving for the good stuff we can't say these Belvita are going to necessarily do the trick. What the chocolate flavouring does here is make the usual breakfast biscuit option a little more interesting, providing a hint of chocolatey goodness where you previously might not have expected to find one. Whilst not all chocolate desires are going to be fulfilled these are still pretty decent biscuits thus we would say give them a try if searching for a chocolatey diet option.